If something is approved by the Congress by definition the people agreed to it. Public Transportation isn't just subways under New York City, commuter trains to and through suburbia, streetcars/ lightrail on the roads in the urban area, regional trains connecting rural regions and big towns/ small cities, and so on.. Yes we need a rail system just like how we needed Amtrak (which now puts us billions in deeper debt every year because no one uses it enough).
Amtrak doesn't own the railways it runs services on, they're owned by the state railways and private freight operators. They give it a lower priority to their own services, often have old infrastructure, operating restrictions, etc - Amtrak is greatly hampered in its operations. It takes 3 and a half hours for the Acela to cover the 231 miles from Boston to NYC, it takes an hour and 57 minutes for a TGV to do cover the 254 miles from Paris to Lyons. The reason for this is that the TGV uses dedicated purpose-built High-Speed Railways. While the Acela has to use pre-existing railways, bridges and overhead from the 1930s, go through level crossings, ride railways in Connecticut that are too close together preventing the use of the Pendalino tilting mechanism system, and so on. It was decided by the automotive industry and government working to enrich them shut down public transportation, build suburbanization, and the freeways to support it. What choice do people then have when that is done?
Eventually, oil prices will reach high enough that it will necessitate some people taking more public alternatives. In the mean time, I don't want to ride next to some smelly fuck who hasn't bathed in weeks. But that's my decision. If I can afford to live my life that way, then I will. People like their privacy and autonomy. I know I do. I wouldn't expect anyone to understand as much. Why would I want to wait another 15 minutes to an hour on transportation? That's wasted time in my day. The fastest route would still be my car. Why would I want to ride a bus or train that has to stop every five minutes when I can take a car and get there in a third of the time. As of right now, I would have to walk two miles to get to the nearest bus stop. Then I couldn't listen to my music as loud as I wanted or have the AC going to my optimal comfort zone. Cars are way superior.
Americans have been conditioned to want to get places as slowly as possible so they consume as much resources as possible. If someone inherits wealth, it already means his family has done massive amount of good for the society, face it, people getting filthy rich is a wonderful thing, everybody benefits from it.
The question isn't whether or not its more efficient. The question is whether or not people will like it. Obviously, America has chosen the route it wants to take; that's what a free society does. The free market will eventually fix this. Give it time.
